Helljumper
by xxAristotlexxx
Summary: The UNSC 'Raining Fire' has had a long standing group of devoted ODSTs always present in the ship, a small but devoted group of 'Orbital Drop Shock Troopers'. However, after a mission where all but one of the squad members died the group must rebuild. After the Survivor returns, with Spartan IV Augmentations, he is ready to face the challenges of leading a new squad.
1. Prologue: 'Where've you been'

Chapter 1 – Helljumpers

The tall figure strode through the metallic corridors, passing people in uniforms with various name tags including some like 'Engineer', 'Diagnostics' and so on and so forth. The figure was attracting glances from people not for his height, but it was clear he stood an inch or two higher than most in the corridor, but the fact he was clad in pitch black armour. And not just any kind of armour, people noted, but what seemed to be a form of Orbital Drop Shock Trooper armour (Commonly referred to as the ODST set). The visor, however, was the same as his armour – a pitch black which did go against the standard ODST blue and a few people commented on that. They were subsequently ignored.

As the figure took step after step through the corridors, his armour making thuds against the floor as he went, a voice came from everywhere at once 'ATTENTION. ALL PERSONEL. PREPARE FOR SLIPSPACE JUMP.' The figure paused for a second as people around him paused to listen to the voice and immediately began to hurry past the figure. The figure, however, simply continued his walk but slightly faster than before. As he approached a hatch, it slid open for him, and he strode inside.

'Welcome back Spartan 632, please take your seat and prepare for the Slipspace jump.' Came a voice, but this time it was from a small, holographic figure on a pedestal in the middle of the room. The figure was a woman, whose shimmering figure made it obvious whenever she decided to manifest herself. The figure had long hair, stretching down to her shoulder blades and wore an attire similar to that of the personnel who had been hurrying past the figure before however her, or its, tag read 'AI Elizabeth'. 632 nodded and strode over to a seat next to a large table with some kind of projector in the center which could at a moment's notice project a display of any scanned areas. The walls of the room were not visible, instead they were covered with large bunk-beds with a weapon rack next to each containing a variety of weapons. The most common among them were variants of the MA5 Assault Rifle. Others included the M395 Designated Marksman's Rifle and even more variants of the BR55 or 'Battle Rifle'. However, among those more common weapons more unique and 'personalized' weapons could be seen. Visible among them was a Sniper rifle which had been painted pitch black, possibly mirroring its user. A Shotgun which had the muzzle with what appeared to painted on teeth at the muzzle. It always brought a smile to the wielder's face to see such a lovely piece of art seen in action. The last piece of 'unique' equipment was, to put it simply a Railgun. No special pieces of art or colours on it just simply the Railgun.

The voice rang over the intercom again 'All Personnel. Repeat, All Personnel. Slipspace jump will commence in five. Four. Three. Two. One.

'Elizabeth' appeared on her pedestal again and smiled over at 632, which was something she tended to do. Sorry, IT tended to do. He had to constantly remind himself of this, it was not human. It didn't have a gender. It was an AI. A being made of thoughts and thinking. "Six-Three-Two, the other Spartans are heading this way. Do you want me to divert them to another area of the ship so you can have some alone time?" Elizabeth asked.

632 grunted with something of a smirk appearing underneath his visor. He never understood it but Elizabeth had taken something of a liking to him. He never knew why or how but he had gotten the impression that the second he had set foot on the ship the AI had watched him constantly. But then again, all AIs are Omnipresent. She could watch everything at once, she could watch the Men and Women's showers at the same time should she wish it. 'There I go again, thinking of it as a Her.' "I'm sure they'd like to catch some nap time before the kids go out to play, let them come." 632 replied.

Elizabeth simply nodded in return and added, in what must have been intended to be a joking manner. "Okay, poison gas put on standby."

The sound of a parade coming down the corridor was coming closer and closer until the doors automatically opened, perhaps slightly slower than they could have. The five figures entered the room, one after the other, all wearing their respective armours. Three out of the five were female. And each of the women were wearing the same Brick red coloured armour. Their armour was different, only slightly in that being each only wore a different helmet whilst the rest of their armour was the standard Mark VI. Contrary, to what the Armour requisition officer had put it that you couldn't 'Mix and match' armour, they had done so anyway. The first wore the Extra-Vehicular-Activity helmet (EVA) which made her head look like a Goldfish's bowl. The second wore the Explosive-Ordnance-Disposal helmet (EOD) whilst the third wore the Orbital Helmet. All of their visors were the same tinted blue, marking them as rookies or just too lazy to check the other boxes other than 'blue' on the requisition form. The two others wore the matching recruit armour and the same forest green armour with the blue visor. The mix and match of the colour was worthy of vomiting over, as commented by the EVA female. They had been talking, quite loudly, and continued as they entered.

"I'm just saying, the old Assault rifle was good if your enemy has shields but when it came down to taking out an enemy with higher shields then the bullets could handle? You were as good as dead!" The EOD female was literally yelling before a very loud sound was emitted into each of their helmets, something similar to the sound of standing next to the Mass Accelerator Cannon (MAC) firing without something to shield your ears and they all yelled out, which was heard through their now muffled helmets.

Elizabeth's came into their ears, with the sound of a mother dealing with her over-excited children. "Spartans, perhaps it has escaped your notice that your squad leader sits before you?" She commented. Their helmets didn't move, but 632 could feel their eyes turning to see him as they rushed to form a line in front of him and hastily saluting. He stood up, his ODST armour looking old-school.

"Thank you Elizabeth," 632 said, and Elizabeth's holographic projection gave 632 a parting wave before blinking out of existence.

632 stared at each of his squad members, his helmet hardly swivelling as he examined each and every one of them. Each still had a sidearm, this he had told them from day 1. Suddenly, and un-expectedly, 632's voice rang out into the broken silence. "Helljumper, Helljumper where've you been?"

The five immediately yelled the reply. "Feet first into hell now I'm back again! When I die please bury me deep! Fix an MA5 down by my feet! Don't you cry for me don't shed no tear! Just pack my box with my PT gear! 'Cause one early mornin' 'round Zero-Five! The Ground will rumble, there'll be lightning in the sky! Don't you come un-done don't be afraid! It's just my ghost out on a PT run!"


	2. Chapter 1: 'Feet first into hell'

Chapter 2 – 'Feet first into hell then back again!'

The Spartans remained at attention as 632 strode from one end of their line to the other, his emotionless mask hidden behind his helmet. He finally stopped at the end with the EVA and said, "Name and number!"

"Spartan Charlotte Seven-two-five!" She yelled in reply. 632 nodded to her before looking at the next Spartan, the EOD female.

"Spartan Hayley Seven-two-six!" She quickly said as 632 came level with her and he continued at a slow pace and each of them replied to his question. Unknown to them, as they each yelled their name and number Elizabeth was projecting their service records onto 632's visor, and filling his ear with information. 'Seems like we have three of a kind…' Elizabeth's voice said.

"Spartan Serenity Seven-two-seven!" The last female replied, now it was time for the Rookies.

"Spartan Jacob Eight-five-five!" Yelled the first male.

"Spartan Léon Eight-seven-seven!" Yelled the last, with the slightest hint of a French accent.

632 looked at each of them in turn after they had finished, his arms folded and there was a minute of silence in the cabin. 'The three females have good records, served in the UNSC for a few years before volunteering for the Spartan IV program… All at the same time, it seems. They were put together for team work exercises and performed very well. However, when put into Regicide Matches against each other they became very competitive and were too pre-occupied with dealing with each other than they were with the other, consequently they have ZERO Regicide victories between them. The interesting point you may want to draw your eyes to is the amount of Slayer victories they have tucked in their collective belts fifty wins and one loss.' Elizabeth's voice echoed into his brain as he listened intently to the information he was receiving. 'The two men on the other hand are quite different, they have been pitted against each other during basic training and have both acquired an even amount of Regicide victories to Slayer victories. However, they both have poor victories in objective based training exercises.' Elizabeth finished her data mining and 632 nodded mentally.

"I believe we should all get acquainted, I'm your squad leader. Spartan Six-three-two." 632 said, rather dryly and intentionally not putting his name beforehand. "I expect you all to follow my orders on the battlefield, whether you like them or not. You'll have to trust me and I'll have to trust you. I expect you all to conduct yourselves with at least a small bit of decorum whilst we are stationed on the 'Raining Fire' and to get yourselves acquainted with the crew and your Drop pods." 632 finished, looking at each of them in turn and they all saluted him. "You are dismissed, get your armour off if you want to. Engineering bay is on Deck three, next to the hanger bay."

They all nodded, saluted and filed at of the cabin. As soon as they were all down the corridor from the cabin they began to speak again, Serenity was the first to speak. "He seemed… 'Nice',"

The other two women chuckled under their helmets, "He could have been worse, I mean the way he spoke to us seemed like he had done it before. At least we aren't with a greenhorn." The other two nodded before Hayley quickly added, taking into account their two male comrades, "No offense guys,"

"None taken." Léon quickly replied, smiling under his helmet and rubbing the side of it. "Do any of you know what that sound was that was projected into our helmets?" He asked them all as they walked towards an elevator. People had begun to come out of cabins around them and the corridors were busy again but people would flatten themselves against the walls as the Spartans approached.

As they entered the elevator, with Léon awaiting an answer a holographic woman appeared on a pedestal in the corner of the elevator and, before they could say a word, the elevator began to descend through the decks. "It was a high pitched sound to get you all to silence, Spartan Eight-seven-seven," Elizabeth said, an innocent smile spreading across her holographic figure. She had, in fact, enjoyed emitting the sound into each of their helmets. It was very enjoyable. Or something close to it, at the least.

"You know you could have asked us to be quiet?" Hayley replied, her tone indicating irritation but the holographic figure just smiled sweetly at the Spartans.

"Where's the fun in that?" Elizabeth replied, simply and in a matter-of-fact way.

Back in the Cabin, 632 and removed his helmet to reveal a face which appeared to be in his early thirties and black hair which looked like it had just started to grow out of the buzz cut, and had already touched his ears. Green eyes stared at the door to the cabin door before Elizabeth's holographic image was projected next to him.

"Oh what a handsome face you have," But, before he could answer with something of an amused grin on his face, she added "I'm conversing with them right now, they seem to have enjoyed your little speech. How did you know they'd know that? The Helljumper thing,"

"I didn't. But it was worth a try and they appeared to have known it and are used to taking orders. They were all Helljumpers, except that Léon. I'd be surprised if the rest didn't have the tattoo." 632 replied, leaning back in his chair and placing his ODST helmet on the edge of the table.

"I'm thankful that those chairs are reinforced," Elizabeth added.

"So am I. Old habits die hard. Elizabeth, if they inquire about my history do the old 'Access restricted. Only crew members authorised by the Captain can view this file and review the information'," 632 said, thinking of his new squad members. They all had a relatively good IQ and, thinking on that, they'd be fools not to check the background of their new squad leader.

"Of course, but what if the Captain does grant them permission?" Elizabeth replied, thinking about the possible scenarios of which they could come across the Captain, or the Captain come across them and they inquire about 632's past.

"Then just say that 'This file has been moved to a Personal folder.'" 632 said, with something of a smirk on his face. The idea that an AI would gladly lie to the Captain to keep his history under wraps would be something un-heard of yet here he was, speaking with Elizabeth on doing exactly that.

"What will you do If they ask you about your history, Six-three-two?" Elizabeth asked. Of course, out of all the scenarios running through her consciousness the most likely one would be that his squad, most likely the female members, would go to him and inquire about his past.

632 sighed heavily, his face looking tired even though a Spartan IV could work for 48 hours and only need 2 hours of that to rest to still be combat effective. "I'll just deal with them when it comes to it."

Elizabeth watched the entire ship at once, monitoring the crew through cameras placed in every nook and cranny of the ship. She also had access to heat sensors, motion sensors and all the available sensors that were on-board the ship. And with all that, she had plenty of room to do other things. She had devoted herself, partly, to learning and studying Human behaviour so she could react accordingly. Something of interest caught her collective eye and she concentrated on the camera, located in the engineering bay and spotted the five Spartans with all of them now out of their armour and looking around for something else to do.

Hayley had short brown hair, which only just touched her shoulders and would be tied back and stuffed un-kindly under her helmet. Her face was pleasant enough whilst brown eyes would stare at you. Charlotte had similar short hair, however her hairs was a light blond colour with matching light blue eyes whilst Serenity was full blond with her hair only just reaching past her neck with aqua blue eyes. However, all their hair was currently tied back in pony tails and they looked around curiously at the ship. Léon had brown hair which had been shaved down to a buzz cut whilst Jacob's hair was the same, but it wasn't clear if his hair was brown or blond with the tiny hairs poking out of his head. Their eyes, strangely, were a very similar hazel whilst their faces were clearly marked by experience.

"So where shall we go then?" Hayley asked the assembled Spartans and before they could answer Elizabeth's holographic figure blinked into existence on a nearby pedestal, her hands still folded behind her back as she smiled at the Spartans with a motherly touch to it.

"I, personally, recommend that you head to the hanger bay and get acquainted with your 'toys'. If you wanted, I could ask for the Flight Lieutenant to break-away from his business to meet you by the Pelican for a meet and greet?" Elizabeth recommended, the smile never disappearing from her projected face. "The Flight Lieutenant has had previous experience with Six-three-two and may be able to shed some light on your sergeant," Elizabeth added as the women looked rather hesitant to meet the pilot, but at the mention of the possibility of discovering new information about their sergeant? Who could resist.

"We'd appreciate that, thanks Lizzy," replied Léon before anyone else could get in a word and Elizabeth turned her projected head to look at Léon. This was more for his benefit then for hers, admittedly. She could clearly seem him from three different perspectives and, if the door opened, five different perspectives.

"Lizzy?" Elizabeth questioned, looking through the records of the crew. Nope, no one under the name of Lizzy…

"Yea, that's a nickname that I just thought up for you." Léon replied with a kind smile, his French accent adding an extra hint of kindness to his tone.

"Ok. Recorded in my archives now please make your way to the hanger bay, the Flight Lieutenant is already on her way."

632 was leaning back in his chair before a holographic figure popped into existence, where Elizabeth normally stood was instead a woman in Off-duty clothing of a UNSC officer. The figure smiled at 632, "I'm about you meet your squad, thought you'd like to be there," She said.

632 sat up, sighing lightly as he tilted his head slightly and heard it crack slightly before he glanced against at the holographic woman. "On my way," 632 replied.

The woman nodded and offered him a blown kiss, with something of a smirk on her face before her figure blinked out of existence. 632 gave up on delaying the inevitable and stood up and began to make his way out of the cabin and towards the elevator that'd take him down to the hanger bay, at a slightly faster pace than someone would expect. However, before he left the cabin he grabbed his helmet and secured it safely back on his head.


	3. Chapter 2: 'When I die bury me deep'

Chapter 2 – When I die please burry me deep!

The hanger bay. Or, as Jacob likes to call it, the playground. The hanger took up two decks, each with its own landing pads and places where vehicles were tied down. The vehicle which made up the majority of these was the Warthog, the vehicle that many people loved because of the fact you could just the Warthog to have anything on the rear from using it as a troop transport to a Gauss Cannon. Second most common was the Falcon, closely followed by the Hornet. Both of these vehicles were aerial vehicles, designed to be deployed whilst in a planet's atmosphere. The Falcon had two fixed guns, one on either side, which could either be a grenade launcher or a fixed heavy machine gun. There were enough seats in the falcon to fit 3 plus 1 pilot and plus 2 gunners which made the Falcon perfect for deploying a squad. The hornet on the other hand was more of a ground support vehicle with two fast firing, self-loading heavy machine guns accompanied by rocket pods fixed to the Hornet's wings. One person could sit on either side of the Hornet giving it the capability to add extra fire power or be able to extract a couple of marines at a time.

The final vehicle was the Pelican. The Pelican was meant to be a heavy troop transport, with the capability to be deployed from atmosphere or space and it is designed to survive re-entry. It can fit 10-14 passengers and with a heavy arsenal it could also be used to support troops on the ground.

With wide eyes Jacob ran around the level of the hanger bay they were one, going from vehicle to vehicle. "They got the new model! Ooooo…! That's shiny!" He was saying as the others slowly followed him, making their way to a Pelican which had an attractive woman painted on the side, blowing a kiss and with the ODST emblem appearing like a tattoo on her shoulder. Leaning against the Pelican's cockpit was a woman wearing officer's off-duty clothing. She watched the Spartans approach with something of a wicked grin as she adjusted her head slightly. Her hair was tied back in a bun but it still was clearly a midnight black and, after a few moments of waiting she beckoned to the Spartans who walked over to her and offered a salute but she waved it off with a smile.

"No need for the formalities, we're going to be crash landing together after all," She said, still grinning. They hoped she was joking. "I'm responsible for deploying you lot into the field if you don't take your coffin- I mean, drop pods," She added and it was now clear. She was trying to scare them or play with them, it was hard to tell which.

They stared at her for a few more moments, with Jacob still glancing around to eye the vehicles in the hanger bay and making mental notes about the amount of each, before Léon spoke up "Elizabeth said you have had previous experience with the sergeant, care to share?"

The flight lieutenant chuckled lightly, leaning further back against the Pelican with her back now at a comfortable angle. "Me and, as you call him, Six-three-two go back a long way and we met up again when new were both assigned to the UNSC Raining Fire," But before she could continue, the flight lieutenant stopped as she peered around them as the sound of heavy footfalls was coming closer and there he was. His ODST armour was pitch black, as she remembered but his visor was black instead of the regulation blue. She remembered his comments about hating the blue but he was different. Taller, like the Spartans and he appeared more muscular and carrying a certain air of… She couldn't quite put her finger on what but it was definitely not anything positive. That was, until he spotted her.

632 looked at the flight lieutenant through his visor and her service records popped up to his right, courtesy of Elizabeth. He spared it only the smallest of glances as he already knew what it contained. The first thing he had done when the AI had asked if he needed anything was to review the service records of everyone he would be working with and he had not been disappointed with, hardly a second later, the information was displayed on the holographic display on the table. He had found himself mentioned a few times in her service record whilst some were for good reasons there were other for bad reasons. For example, they both received a commendation for performing their duty admirable yet they had also both received warnings on their files for celebrating the amount of drops and causing fights often. That was all behind him now. '632, your heart rate as elevated is everything alright?' Elizabeth's voice spoke into his ear. Even though she couldn't get a clear view of everything she still had sensors inside of his suit to give her information.

Ignoring the voice of Elizabeth he looked the flight lieutenant for a few more seconds before he looked at the members of his squad, his helmet hardly swivelling at all. "All of you getting acquainted?" He asked.

"Yes sir, apparently you and the flight lieutenant go way back," Hayley replied and 632 looked at her for a few moments before looking over at the lieutenant. She was still grinning wickedly.

"Yes we do go –way- back," 632 said, a few thoughts running through his mind just before he added, "The lieutenant and I were good team mates,"

The flight lieutenant simply chuckeld lightly, muttering something about squad mates don't get intimate. Unluckily for him, his squad members heard and they all turned to look at the lieutenant and she just stared back at her before all of them, including the lieutenant turned to look at 632 who, was kindly reminded by Elizabeth, '632, your heart rate is increasing and you are heating up.'

After a few moments of silence, that felt like an eternity, his squad broke out with wide grins and 632 couldn't hide a long sigh before he looked up with an evil grin on under his helmet. "Let's put you ALL to the test. Report to the Combat simulation deck for a Regicide match, you as well Carol,"

They all gaped at him and sighed, with Carol still shooting him an even eviler grin then the one he was wearing under his helmet as they all made their way to the elevator whilst Jacob was still staring at a toy he hadn't noticed before and identified it as the 'Mantis'. The look that crossed his face made it apparent to the rest. He wanted one for Christmas.

'REGICIDE'

COMBATANTS IN TODAY'S SIMULATION ARE…

SPARTAN GARRET 632

SPARTAN CHARLOTTE 725

SPARTAN HAYLEY 726

SPARTAN SERENITY 727

SPARTAN JACOB 855

SPARTAN LÉON 877

AND FINALLY, FLIGHT LIEUTENANT CAROL SANDERS

MAP – RAGNAROK

LOCATION – REQUIEM

MATCH BEGINS IN FIVE…

FOUR…

THREE…

TWO…

ONE…

632 spawned in and immediately checked his motion sensor, one target moving away from him at fast pace, only now just passing 20 meters. He glanced around and saw that his spawn position was that on inside the base in Ragnarok that was closest to the water and he was silently thankful… Until he heard the sound of a Mantis standing up and beginning to walk away from the base. He glanced down and grabbed the Sniper Rifle which had just appeared in front of him and set out to the top of the base, by the gravity lift and he saw the Mantis striding away and the pilot already firing at others scattered amongst the rocks and on the hill above the Mantis, 632 spotted a flash of light reflected into his visor and he crouched down only to narrowly avoid the blast from a Railgun and it flew past him to land in the wall, causing a hole to be formed where it made contact.

855 IS THE KING!

So he was the one in the Mantis, and he glanced down at the scoreboard in the bottom right hand side of his visor and it willingly enlarged to show that Jacob was in the lead with three kills whilst the trio of female Spartans had been taken down. 632 looked away from the scoreboard and it willingly minimized back into the corner of his visor and checked his motion sensor only to see a red dot below him… Oh this would be fun… The red dot obligingly left the building and headed right, into a few trees and rocks with cover. It was clear, as 632 peered over his cover, that it was Carol. She wasn't wearing any class of Mjolnir battle armour and was instead wearing the ODST armour and armed with a silenced SMG. He looked carefully down the sights as he watched Carol move and raised the sights a little as he saw a faint disruption in front of her and fired.

HEADSHOT

SAVIOUR!

Carol appeared to pause for half a second as she saw the armour of Spartan 877 fall in front of her, with a large crack in the visor. The bullet had pierced straight through his shields and dealt with him but a few seconds later there was the sound of another bullet.

HEADSHOT!

Carol dropped to the floor as the bullet pierced easily through the back of her ODST helmet and came out the other side. With no shields to protect her, she was an even worse position but 632 knew she could hold her own in a fight. But these were Spartans, his Spartans.

632 glanced down at his motion sensor again to see another three red dots approached his position as he heard the female voices yelling, "Mantis!", and as they said it a larger red dot appeared on his radar and he peered out from cover again to see the three female Spartans running and jumping over obstacles to escape the abusive amount of rockets and bullets that followed them as Jacob laughed maniacally. 632 decided it was time to show off and, grabbing a plasma grenade which had just appeared to his right from an Ordnance drop, he jumped into the gravity lift. He was thrown fifty feet into the air and, as he began his descent again he directed himself towards the Mantis.

He grabbed the latch on the back of the Mantis' hatch as he nearly hit the ground and stopped himself, before pulling himself up and igniting the plasma grenade and pulling the hatch open a little before he shoved the Plasma grenade through the hole and he heard Jacob's yelling as the grenade stuck to his cock-plate. That would hurt.

632 threw himself away from the Mantis and landed on a ledge behind the Mantis giving him the chance to pull out his Sniper rifle again and quickly dispatched the three women, who were still running for the base.

HEADSHOT

DOUBLE KILL!

YOU'RE THE KING!

TRIPPLE KILL!

OVERKILL!

632 grinned as he watched the Mantis explode and glanced down to his motion sensor, seeing multiple dots and all of them coloured red. Léon using active camouflage… Without even thinking, as if he had done this before, 632 turned and pulled a knife from his chest piece and stabbed at the air behind him and his felt it penetrated through something and he saw Léon's active camouflage slowly disappear and he yanked his knife out from his shoulder before pulling his magnum from the leg slot and raising it and shooting Léon in the head. Multiple times so he was sure.

HEADSHOT!


	4. Chapter 3: 'Fix an MA5 down by my feet'

Chapter 3 – 'Fix an MA5 down by my feet!'

The entire Spartan team, excluding 632, were in their quarters. The cabin had enough room to comfortably fit 6 Spartans so it was no surprise that Carol was sat in a chair as she observed them all. Out of all of them, Jacob held an icepack to his crotch area and winced every time he moved. Before the simulation, you could choose the settings to make it mimic a downgraded version of the hit you take to your real body or you could set it so your real body is no effected at all and Hayley had told the sergeant 'Oh you'll wish that it was on the no SI (Simulation Injury) setting before this is over!' and she now regretted that decision. So as Jacob had a plasma grenade blow up on his cock-plate the simulation promptly gave his real crotch a similar experience… Needless to say, they were all nursing some kind of 'Simulation Injury'. Even Carol held a very small icepack to the back of her head whilst Leon clutched one to his chest. The women had been hit the worse, first a Mantis explosion and then they all ended up getting shot in head whilst Léon had only been shot and stabbed it was arguable that Jacob had suffered the worse.

Elizabeth suddenly blinked into existence at the holo terminal and she observed them all for a few seconds before letting out a motherly smile. "Garret would like to commend you all for putting up a fight and has asked me to pass on the message that you'll be able to get your revenge tomorrow. The simulation will take place at 1800 hours and it'll be a special variant which he has devised for you,"

They all turned to look at her, Carol chuckling as she recalled 632's expression as they left the simulation room. It was not a smug expression, far from it. Instead he had appeared to look proud as if he expected them to have done considerably worse than they did. "Thank you, Elizabeth," Carol replied, smiling at her with something of an irritated expression on her face with the knowledge that Garret would expect her to turn up as well. She may not be a part of the squad but she was still expected to hold her own in a firefight, by his standards.

Elizabeth continued to speak to them, "The next location that you'll be fighting on is going to be 'Crashsite', it is a specially designed map and you'll be happy to know that you'll all be fighting against Six-three-two, except you Flight Lieutenant. You'll be responsible for repairing the ship."

"Repairing the ship?" The other Spartans turned their intent gazes on Carol who nodded in acknowledgement of their turned faces and the question. So, it was a simulation of –that-.

"You'll all also be happy to know I'll be assisting you in this exercise, Six-three-two hopes that you'll be able to spread your wings whilst you get the strategy but until the time he deems fit you'll be working with me." Elizabeth added, continuing her unwavering smile, "That means you'll be led by a holographic version of myself inside the simulation so I advise you head down to the firing range and take your favourite toys because I hate to lose." As she finished, Elizabeth's figure blinked out of existence but they all knew she was still watching them and listening. She was everywhere at once on this ship and could eavesdrop a conversation about someone talk about the Hinge-heads on one side of the ship whilst she could observe a couple of personnel getting intimate on the other side.

The door to the cabin slid open and 632 entered and, for the first time since they had met him, he had his ODST armour off and Carol couldn't stop herself from staring at him whilst the rest of his squad were too busy nursing their SIs to pay any attention to his entrance.

632 looked around at his squad members nursing their SIs and he chuckled lightly, finally attracting their attention and he even managed to crack an apologetic smile. "How's the crotch, Jacob?" Jacob simply stared at 632 and took the icepack away from his crotch area before looking back at the sergeant with a nod.

"Could be worse… You could have used a Vulture's main cannons at point-blank range." At that, all the men in the room shuddered at the thought, including 632 whilst the women looked at the men with suspicion and Carol couldn't hold back a wicked grin at the idea of Garret having a Vulture's main cannon aimed directly at his crotch.

632's expression went from light hearted to serious in the space of a second, "Here's a tip you lot, if you want to survive with your new suits. Use your motion sensor, it'll save your life and end the life of the person whose sneaking up on you…" 632 shot a sideways glance at Léon "… And it can help detect people who are careless with their movements." He continued, turning his gaze to Carol who blew a kiss at him in a teasing manner. "I hope you all get a goodnight sleep, and since that you have taken such an interest in the squad, Carol, you'll move into the spare bunk with us. Your duffle bag is waiting for you outside the cabin door."

It was thought, at that moment, that 632 was being slightly cruel or even not caring the fact he hadn't bothered to take a few extra steps with the duffle bag. Carol, however, stood up and strode past him to the door opening to reveal on the other side. It was full of all her possessions whilst what appeared to be the corner of a picture frame stuck out the top. 632 hadn't been cruel or un-gentlemanly he had simply wished to keep up the appearance that he wasn't picking favourites in the squad and their pilot. Carol paused as she glanced at the picture frame, loosening the duffle bag and pulling it out to reveal an old photo of her standing with the old Helljumpers of the Raining Fire. Standing to her right, with an arm around her and a smile on his face, was Garret. The other members of that six-man squad seemed to be blurry and she pushed the photo frame back into her duffle bag and turned to walk back inside the cabin. She could have sworn that as she entered, Garret tapped her gently on the small of her back. It was clear. He still cared.

632's hand had accidently slipped as Carol walked past him and he hoped that she would excuse him for it. "Now, you all may want to get some sleep and rest up… Nurse those injuries and hang in there." 632 said, the hint of an evil grin touching his face before he turned and left the cabin and the door swooshing shut behind him.

"Is he inherently evil or was that recent?" Serenity asked, still with the ice pack pressed against the back of her head.

The rest of them shrugged but Carol paused in thought. No, Garret hadn't always been like that and the argument could have be made that he was once as casual and green as they were when it came to it. They were all exceptional in the field in some way or another or they had just volunteered for the program but the Regicide match today made them all look like rookies.

632 strode through the 'quieter' corridors of the Raining Fire, less crew members then before walked past him. Elizabeth's voice rang out through the ship, 'ATTENTION All crew members. It is now Nine Thirty ship wide time. The shifts should have already been changed. Spartan Six-three-two please report to the bridge.' 632 paused for a second before he took a right down one corridor and reached the elevator before taking it up a few floors, heading along another corridor, right, left, right up a stair case and approached a door with a marine stood guard outside of it. The marine saluted as the Spartan approached and 632 nodded to the marine silently before the marine hit a button on the wall behind him to cause the door to open manually and 632 strode in and saluted.

The scene which met his eyes was a bridge still full of people with people moving around to show other people data pads with information about only they know what. The Captain was sat in a chair in the centre of the room being shown a data pad and he nodded to the man. All of them, excluding the Captain, were wearing different coloured jump suits. Red, yellow, blue… Probably signifying what their duties were. Elizabeth appeared next to the captain and gestured towards 632 and the Captain nodded his thanks to Elizabeth before turning, the chair turning with him, to see 632 still stood there in a firm salute.

"Captain Hughes." 632 said, still keeping his salute firm and unwavering but the man, with a buzz cut that still showed his hair to be blonde with streaks of grey and the uniform of a Captain with a few medals on his chest, stood up from his chair and saluted the Spartan back.

"Good to see you Garret, getting used to your squad?" Hughes replied as they both dropped their hands and 632 folded his hands back behind his back.

"Yes sir, they seem to be settling in nicely to the ship and the flight lieutenant has been helping them settle in," 632 said, staring the captain who had been captain of the Raining Fire since Garret had been assigned to it as an ODST.

"That's good, some of the crew were lucky enough to see the Regicide 'training' you did. It was shown on some of the screens on board," Captain Hughes chuckled lightly as he remembered watching it from a data pad from the perspective of inside 855's helmet and remembering looking down to see a plasma grenade stuck to his cock-plate. Admitedly, the crew who watched the scene had laugh and others applauded as they all watched from the perspectives of different Spartans and the flight lieutenant's HUD. "You plan to do another training session tomorrow," It wasn't a question, it was a statement, "I hope you don't mind if the crew watches Spartans in simulation to help boost the morale of course,"

632 chuckled lightly and nodded to the Captain, "I'll try to put on a good show for you all but it may be slightly harder with Elizabeth working with them and then we need to assume the worst and prepare for it,"

"Well, I hope you are ready. By the way, who's repairing the ship?" The Captain asked, curiously. He had thought of 855 since he was a vehicle enthusiast but 632 quickly replied.

"Carol will be, just like old times."

Hello viewers I hope you are enjoying the story. This is just a quick note to ask for you to leave some reviews so I can improve my style of writing and improve the story generally. If you haven't already guessed, the story will for the most part take place on the UNSC Raining Fire and the 'War games' simulation. If I find out enough people are interested in the story and are enjoying it then I'll proceed to expand on the story and characters. A quick side note, this is my first Fan Fiction and after reading NaruHina fanfics I thought I could do better (Which makes me sound quite obnoxious) so Ladies and Gentlemen, good night and sleep tight. Unless it's the afternoon, then Good afternoon. Or the morning… Good morning.


	5. Chapter 4: 'Don't you cry for me'

Chapter 4 – 'Don't you cry for me, don't shed no tear'

SIMULATION BEGINNING OF THE INCIDENT CODENAMED 'CRASHSITE' DURING WHICH PRIVATE GARRET AND FLIGHT LIEUTENANT HUGHES CRASHLANDED BEHIND ENEMY LINES DURING AN OPERATION INVOLVING THE UNSC 'RAINING FIRE'. THEY WERE STUCK ON A COVENANT CONTROLLED PLANET FOR A MONTH AND MANAGED TO COMPLETE THEIR OBJECTIVE. PRIVATE GARRET AND FLIGHT LIEUTENANT SANDERS WERE GIVEN THE COLONIAL MEDAL FOR COMPLETING THEIR OBJECTIVE WITH THE ODDS AGAINST THEM

The announcer's voice rang out from where ever people were watching the simulation, the automated voice giving everyone the information that was needed whilst the Spartans in the simulation picked their weapons to use. Many people were watching through 632's HUD and saw him pull a Battle Rifle and Magnum from the crashed Pelican, checking the ammo in the magazines whilst he glanced over to Carol, who was wearing her ODST armour again, who was pulling a DMR and shotgun from the wreckage.

'SURVIVAL'

COMBATANTS IN TODAY'S SIMULATION INCLUDE

SPARTAN GARRET 632

SPARTAN CHARLOTTE 725

SPARTAN HAYLEY 726

SPARTAN SERENITY 727

SPARTAN JACOB 855

SPARTAN LÉON 877

FLIGHT LIEUTENANT CAROL SANDERS

AND FINALLY, AI UNIT 'ELIZABETH'

MAP – WELCOME TO THE CCVS (COVENANT CONTROLLED VACATION SPOT)

LOCATION – UNKNOWN

MATCH BEGINS IN FIVE…

FOUR…

THREE…

TWO…

ONE…

The Spartans, excluding the Flight Lieutenant and 632, were all dropped off in a Pelican. Instead of wearing their standard armour the simulation made them appear to be Insurgents wearing scavenged ODST armour with a few moderations. The area around them was thick woodland whilst in the distance they could see smoke rising from the Crashsite in the distance. Immediately, their mission objective appeared in the top centre of their HUDs.

'ELIMINATE THE SURVIVORS OF THE UNSC WRECKAGE'

Garret glanced started to move pieces of wreckage around the crashsite, forming decent enough cover whilst Carol looked around the surrounding forest with her DMR, looking carefully through the scope and, if she thinks she saw a flicker or shimmer or armour, activating the VISR and hoping that she'd see the outline of Léon using his active camouflage but she was disappointed. The sounds of metal being dragged across dirt and occasionally against other pieces of metal was all that penetrated the artificial silence of the forest. 632 glanced up at the sky, the sun hiding behind the horizon before he turned back to admire his handy work. The pieces of wreckage from the Pelican had been sorted to form a barricade around the rear hatch of the Pelican whilst the cockpit was completely blocked off by a large piece of salvaged metal. "It's ready, Carol," 632 spoke, glancing over at Carol as he decided to stride in through the rear barricade, which had a few holes which couldn't be helped. Carol stepped in behind him and, as they entered the rear compartment of the Pelican, slammed the button the close the hatch which it did… mostly. It left a small gap at the top which a frag grenade could easily fit through. They began to search through the rest of the supplies in the Pelican and found a few extra magnums, the most recent model of assault rifle, a few shotgun shells, a sniper rifle with only one in the chamber and an assortment of medical supplies.

"So, what've we got?" 632 asked, laying down the gathered equipment in front of them. They had closed the door to the cockpit and were kneeling on either side of a pile of assorted supplies and weapons.

"A Battle rifle, a DMR, a Shotgun with a full 'clip' and a few extra shells, a assault rifle with a full clip, four magnums, a sniper rifle with only one in the chamber and some medical supplies including the medical foam… Should be enough to last until we manage to take them out," Carol replied, pushing the gear to the side before glancing at 632's visor "Shall we give them the benefit of the doubt and pretend to be asleep?"

"Set those frag grenades down where I told you to?" 632 replied, grinning at the idea. Connecting the frag grenades primers to his helmet allowing him to remotely prime the grenade. It was still a timed detonation but it'd all go explosively well.

Carol chuckled lightly, climbing into one of the seats on board the Pelican and leaning her head back before glancing over at 632 who held his Battle Rifle in hand and seemed to be dead still but she knew he was constantly glancing at his motion sensor for signs of movement whilst also ensuring that he couldn't hear anything. But that was the problem, they couldn't hear anything. Sure it was a simulation but it would have simulated the sounds of forest animals from the planet they were on like that very nasty breed of animal that Garret had labelled the 'Shewolf'. The species had been entirely made up of females and, every night, tried to attack the Pelican crashsite only to pointlessly claw against the outer hull or to be stabbed, shot or blown up. The 'Shewolf' was like a wolf but it could stand on its hind legs and could jump from the ground to the top of the Pelican but they seemed to hate the light. On the 'original' nights they had managed to complete their mission and head back to the crashsite with the Hinge heads in close pursuit with plasma fire flashing past them until they made it inside of the Pelican and the salvage wall did its best and managed to hold them off until nightfall when the Shewolves came out to play… Never had Carol, in her entire military career, heard a Hinge head yell in desperation. The next morning they managed to retrieve the plasma weaponry of the Hinge heads… But there was only small flecks of blood marking the ground where they had stood.

Garret was thinking along the same lines why there were no Shewolves but then recalled that this 'simulation' was about surviving being hunted down by a squad and not about surviving against the local wildlife.

Night had fallen outside an the squad of insurgents had found the source of the smoke, a Pelican was scared into the landscape but strangely enough the salvaged pieces of the Pelican had been assembled to give cover to the back hatch and completely covered the cockpit from the inside. After a few muttered words and a heated complaint about 'The French guy always dies last so we'll send him first' one of the insurgents stepped into the clearing. Needless to say, the crew members on the outside were yelling at him to stop and go back, knowing about the trap which awaited them. Elizabeth, however, heard these yells and even though she knew of this believed that for the purpose of the exercise it would be better to pretend like she hadn't.

Léon took a few more carefully placed steps into the clearing before waving behind him at his squad mates that it was safe and they all began to advance with their assault rifles raised and ready.

632 watched his motion sensor as the red dots disappeared for a moment before another one flashed at him and advanced closer towards him before it disappeared again. It took a few seconds before the full squad of red dots began to advance towards the Pelican and Garret grinned under his visor, glancing at the option on his HUD to prime the grenades and he smacked his hand against the seat which he had been sitting on. Carol jolted up and looking at him, even though her helmet hid her face and head from view he could feel the same grin and she raised three fingers before counting down. Three, two one.

The grenades surrounding the Pelican all blew up at the same time, the explosion decimating the insurgent squad.

DOUBLE KILL

TRIPPLE KILL

OVERKILL

KILLTACULAR

KILLTROCITY

SIMULATION END

FINAL SCORE:

CRASHED TEAM – SIX KILLS

INSURGENT TEAM – 0 KILLS

CRASHED TEAM WINS!

The cheering was deafening on board the Raining fire as the moment of victory was shown again as their simulation bodies were blown to pieces by the frag grenades. Money was exchanged as people had placed bets on which side would be victorious and more people had placed bets on the 'Insurgents' wining simply because of Elizabeth's presence on their team.

Out of the simulation, all of them made their way back to the cabin with icepacks already strapped to their bodies well… Except for 632 and Carol. As they reached the cabin, Elizabeth blinked into existence and she had a holographic icepack tied to her head but still assumed the same stance. "Feeling alright, Elizabeth?" 632 asked with a playful tone clear on his voice.

"On the contrary, SI only effect those of flesh. I cannot feel that pain but I believe it was needed to show that I was a part of the losing team," Elizabeth replied with something of a smile on her holographic face. "But I was curious why there were none of those Shewolves around, It would have been interesting to see the squad's survival instincts,"

Serenity and Jacob turned a shaky expression on Elizabeth, "Shewolves?" They both asked.

Before Elizabeth could reply, Carol interrupted her. "Yea, Shewolves. Horrible creatures, can rip a Hinge head limb from limb in a matter of seconds. Remember that time Garret?"

"I remember like it was yesterday, bloody things. I was sure they were going to be in the simulation. It would have been interested to hear your screams of terror," 632 said. He was still in his armour but at that moment removed his helm to reveal his face and expression of seriousness.

"We're Spartans, Sarge, we don't get scared from Wildlife!" Hayley quickly replied, perhaps a little too quickly. Sure they were Spartans and they were trained to be able to look an enemy in the eye, kick him in the crotch and beat him to death with his own family jewels but the idea of facing something out of a nightmare was still a nightmare.

"Ah don't worry about them, it's not like you're machines. You're Humans, even with the augmentations. Carol wet herself the first time they tried to break into the Pelican, isn't that right?"

"Hey! I thought you swore you'd never tell anyone that! –ANYONE-," Carol replied, an irritated hint to her tone of voice.

But before Garret could reply, another holographic figure appeared beside Elizabeth. "Spartans." The Captain said, calmly.

"TENHUT!" Garret yelled and the Spartans and the Flight Lieutenant quickly formed a line and saluted the Holographic figure of their Captain who was mere decks above them.

"At ease, Spartans," Captain Hughes replied and the Spartans folded their hands behind their backs. "I have some good news, we'll be returning to Earth for the War Games tournament between the two sister ships of the 'Raining Fire' – 'Coffin Dropper' and 'Feet first'. Each of them have equally capable Spartans so I advise you train up for this in teamwork. It may be a friendly tournament to keep your skills sharp and the crew's morale high but I'd like to add in the fact that the Captains all have a week's worth of pay on their Spartans winning. Don't let me down, Hughes out." His holographic figure disappeared and Elizabeth assumed her central position again and smiled kindly at the Spartans.

"No pressure."


	6. Chapter 5: 'Just pack my box'

Chapter 5 – 'Just pack my box with my PT gear'

"You know the music, time to dance." 632 strode into the drop room, wearing his normal armour ad the same pitch black visor. Carol walked next to him with her helmet tucked under his right arm whilst both of them were carrying a main weapon, 632 was carrying his Battle rifle and a sniper rifle whilst Carol had a DMR and a silenced SMG along with the ODST pistol. The other Spartans were sitting around a Holo-table and were looking at holographic versions of little figures running around a small compound. Behind them was a row of ten drop pods and if you approached the holo-table and looked left you'd be staring at a row of weapons on the wall.

At 632's words, the squad began to move over to their separate drop pods, fixing their weapons into the weapon rack in each pod and Elizabeth's voice came in through a radio in each pod. "Spartans, your primary objective is to secure the compound. Reinforcements from the 'Coffin Dropper' will arrive exactly ten minutes after you drop. The fire support available is Pelican support and, if you ask me nicely, I'll send a Mantis your way,"

"Thanks Elizabeth, countdown?" 632 asked, pressing a button on the side of his pod as the hatch came down and sealed the pod. On two little screens, one on either side of his pod, he saw the image of the Captain as he sat on the bridge whilst on the other he saw Carol.

"Sixty seconds."

"Patch me through to the rest of the squad," 632 said, adjusting his helmet slightly.

"You're already patched in,"

"Spartans! We're dropping in from atmosphere and we're landing right on those SOBs! Remember, our primary objective is to take out the insurgents! Any civilians are to be considered neutral – secure them and wait for us to secure the compound."

"O-ra!" The others replied.

"Thirty seconds. Priming Pods for launch, standby." Elizabeth said.

632 raised a hand and smacked the side of his pod and waited a few seconds, observing the image of Carol smacking the left side of her pod in response.

"Ten seconds, moving you to the launch bay." Elizabeth's voice rang out through their pods again as the pods moved to the launch bay and 632 saw no pods in front of him, of course he had to be first.

As a timer counted down the last few seconds, the pod shuddered before he was ejected from the Raining fire and began to fall towards the planet. He heard Léon over the coms. "I think I'm going to be sick!"

"You know these suits are meant to recycle waste, you could probably throw up and it'd take care of it for you," Hayley replied.

"Yea, you should test that Léon!" Came Jacob's voice.

"You guys are assholes!" Léon yelled into the coms, with the sound of laughter coming from the coms, it sounded like the entire squad was laughing.

"Actually Spartans, it'd take time for the suit to completely recycle all of the waste. Spartan Léon would most likely drown in his own vomit." Elizabeth added before speaking again. "You are about to enter the planet's atmosphere, we'll be out of radio contact and I hope to hear back from all of you soon. Elizabeth out."

The pods began to shake un-controllably as they hit the planet's atmosphere and 632 yelled into the coms, "Calibrate your motion sensors! Pay attention to them! Jacob, request they drop that Mantis as soon as we hit the ground! Léon make sure you get your active camouflage up when you are away from the pod! Having it on now they'll know something's up when they see an empty pod! Carol stay close to Hayley, Serenity and Charlotte!" In his mind, 632 counted down the seconds before they would hit the ground. Five… four…

Three…

Two…

One…

KABLUNK!

The sound of the drop pods slamming into the ground echoed throughout the compounds and the guards, who were halfway through a midnight shift, looked around and saw dust drifting up from the centre of the compounds and lights were turned on and turned to the centre… The dust began to clear but before that moment flashes of light came from the cloud and gave out a bright illumination before the sound of gunfire echoed around the compound. The dust cleared to reveal the Spartans, reloading and with 632 scanning around them as the sound of his shields recharging was apparent.

Jacob raised a hand to his helmet, "This is 'Mantis' to Raining Fire, requesting you drop my 'mate' down here."

"Mantis this is Raining Fire, your mate is on her way," A voice replied, a female voice.

"Mantis wait for your mate, Cloak search the wall for signs of 'life', Buckshot and her band take to the other entrances of the compound and we'll breach on my go." 632 told them all, the use of their call signs was needed in this situation. They all nodded to him in reply before they started to move out, Jacob waiting for the Mantis whilst Léon slowly began to fade from sight and became transparent as he moved towards the wall and out of sight. Serenity lead the rest of the girls to the main building in the compound. Serenity and Hayley lent to either side of one of the side doors whilst Charlotte and Carol took up sides on the one on the opposite side of the compound as 632 strode towards the main entrance whilst examining his motion sensor but his silence was broken as the sounds of more drops pods slamming into the floor behind them were clear and the dust was riled up. 632 waited a few seconds as the dust cleared and 'Coffin Dropper's' Spartan squad came striding out of the dust. Indeed, it looked flashy but it still didn't break the fact that there was only five of them. They all wore the same armour, Air assault. All of their primary colours were the same, and their secondary colours were as well except the one who took another step towards 632. Whilst the rest of them had the secondary of a lightish red, which made them look comical with their deep black, their sergeant's secondary was a brick red.

"I'm the Sergeant from the Coffin Dropper, Callsign 'Hawk'," Spoke the figure, he hadn't noticed it before but the entire squad was female.

"Sergeant, nice to make your acquaintance. I'm the Sergeant from the Raining Fire, Callsign 'Wolf', my team is in position. Buckshot and Fishbowl are ready to breach on my order. Cloak is currently searching the walls for signs of life and Mantis is waiting for his mate," 632 replied, noticing that the 'Coffin Dropper' squad all had Assault rifles in hand and the only difference was 'Hawk' who held a Battle Rifle in hand.

Hawk motioned for her squad to take up positions alongside the others at the entrances but strode with Garret to the main entrance and looked at him through her visor as the loud THUD of an event larger package hitting the ground. The mate had arrived and Jacob squealed with excitement as the protective pod broke away from the Mantis to reveal a shining walker, ready to be used and he climbed in obligingly. The Mantis turned to look at the compound and Jacob's voice came over the radio. "Wolf, this is Mantis. I am armed and ready to go shall we get this party started?"

"Alright, party begins on my mark," 632 replied, holding up three fingers to Hawk and she nodded, holding her rifle tightly in hand.

632 drops a finger.

Drops his second.

He drops his last finger, forming a fist and yelling "BREACH!"

SIMULATION OVER

FINAL SCORE

TEAM RAINING FIRE – 20 KILLS TO ONE INJURY

TEAM WORK BONUS - 5

PLAN BONUS – 5

FINAL SCORE FOR TEAM RAINING FIRE – 29

FINAL SCORE

TEAM COFFIN DROPPERS – 5 KILLS TO NO INJURIES

TEAM WORK BONUS – 5

PLAN BONUS – 5

FINAL SCORE FOR TEAM COFFIN DROPPERS – 15

RAINING FIRE IS VICTORIOUS IN THIS WAR GAMES SIMULATION

Garret and the rest of his squad were sitting at a bar in Sydney, the Raining Fire and her sister ships had been docked for around a week and the War Games were to take place inside the simulation. Their victory was well deserved, they dropped in first and took out the majority of the hostiles. The other squad would only have been victorious if they had breached and cleared out the building by themselves. Garret raised a shot glass and toasted his team, "To our victory and their defeat,"

The rest of his squad raised their glasses and Garret's view was immediately blocked by the sight of a woman wearing off-duty clothing. He looked up as Carol stared down at him, "Want to dance?" She asked him.

Garret shrugged, setting his shot glass down and taking Carol in hand to the dance floor. His squad watched and they chuckled as they saw Garret looking relaxed and, for a few moments, looking like he was just a Private again… Dancing with his girlfriend before shipping out. Léon and Jacob chuckled lightly before looking over at the girls, "Any of you want to dance?" Jacob asked. They just stared at him before Léon strode over to Serenity and politely offered his hand to her, "Madam, may I have this dance?" Serenity nodded, taking his hand and using it to pull herself up. Léon shot a glance to Jacob with something of an evil grin on his face. Jacob just sat back down and raised his shot glass, and downing the drink.

Garret did a slow dance, looking down at Carol with something of a smile touching her lips. "You still got it," She said. Even though he was even taller than her since the last time they danced, he still managed to keep his movements smooth and make up for the height difference.

"Not that difficult, dancing is like field stripping a weapon. Once you get the hang of it, you never forget it," Garret said and Carol let out a small chuckle, "What?"

"You had me at 'stripping'." She replied and Garret's face went a very deep shade of red. Sure he may be a Spartan, an Ex-ODST, winner of the Colonial medal, The King of Regicide and the best marksman on the Raining Fire but he still reacted like a teenage boy when it came to love and romance. But moments like this don't last as Carol heard a very small but faint voice echoing from Garret's right ear where a small earphone was located.

'This is Elizabeth to Spartan 632, Garret. The Captain hates to break your R&R short but he'd like you and the rest of the Spartans to report back to the ship for Dog-fighting simulations. You're all going to learn how to fly.'

Garret sighed quietly, "We need to report back, you're going to give us lessons on flying,"

Léon and Serenity were dancing nearby and heard Garret speak, and made their way to the table to inform the others. When Garret finally turned around to tell the rest of them, they were already stood and waiting for them. Carol jabbed him In the side and whispered to him, "They're definitely yours,"

"You say that like they are my kids," Garret replied.

"Aw come on Garret, you know as well as I do that you'd protect these kids like they're your family. I mean you treat the crew like an extended family and you treat the Captain like a grandfather whilst Elizabeth is like one of those close siblings that you never argue with," Carol continued, grinning at the idea of a 'family' photo. She could even imagine him trying to fit in the lowliest cleaner to the Captain.

"What does that make you? I'm not into incest, Carol," He grinned wickedly at her as they left the bar and began to make their way through the winding streets of Sydney towards the shipyard where the Raining Fire was docked alongside her sister ships, Coffin Dropper and Feet First.

"Me? I'm more of a… Girlfriend perhaps?" She asked, trying to hint something.

"Meh." He replied and he received a quick jab in the ribs for his short answer but he didn't bother to give her a questioning look since he already knew. He wasn't psychic it just didn't take a psychic to know what she was trying to get him to say. Well, it took a Spartan. Last time she had asked him a question like that and he gave the 'Meh' answer he had to stay in the infirmary for a week with a wounded groin and broken arm. Or experience? Probably experience. He prodded her in the side in response, chuckling lightly and whispering in a very hushed voice so even the author of the story couldn't hear and neither does the audience therefore leaving you all in suspense! What did he say?!

Well the expression on Carol's face immediately changed from that of irritation to a very deep, brick red blush. It looked like she had just been in a hot spring for too long as there was metaphorical steam coming from her ears.

The other squad members walked behind them and noticed their sergeant's actions with the flight lieutenant and had to refrain from snickering. Nearly a week ago, they couldn't even receive a smile from him but now he was smiling, laughing and showing a more childish side. Sure, they were Spartans and Soldiers. But they were always, first and foremost…

HUMAN

Hello my lovely readers! And my one reviewer (So far). What's that? Yes I know I put a Halo 4 reference at the end of this chapter. Now before you all start barking (I know not all of you will do that but bear with me) One of the main purposes of the story is to show that the Spartan IVs are nothing like the Spartan IIs, sure they are Spartans and can wear Mjolnir battle armour but the Spartan IIs were raised and trained to be Spartans from a young age and didn't know much about the outside since all that took up their time was training. It wasn't like they could go the icecream stand nearby and grab an icecream between training sessions. However, the Spartan IVs are volunteers from people already serving in the UNSC (Preferably people who have good military records and have good skills E.G. ODSTs) and have been able to develop relationships and grow to be able to be able to socialize normally. Spartan IVs know they are Humans and Soldiers so they can be like this but the Spartan IIs are more… Spartan II. (See Doctor Halsey in the Spartan Ops episode, "First we taught them how to be silent. Then we told them how to be Spartans.")

Now my dear readers! I hope you are enjoying the story so far and if you have any ideas for names and stories for crew members on board the Raining Fire please feel free to PM me and tell me! Next chapter you will see more 'recreational' activities and the more Human side as we delve deeper into the heart and soul of 'Heroes and Heroines' and possibly, in the chapter afterwards, I'll introduce a new permanent character. I'll just give you a hint… Callsign – Coyote.


	7. Chapter 6: 'Cause one early morning'

Chapter 6 – 'Cause one early morning around zero five'

Elizabeth's holographic figure appeared in the dark cabin of the Spartans and for a few moments observed them carefully, noting how they slept and some were even muttering in their sleep. Jacob seemed to be listing the places where an ice pack could be placed to numb pain whilst Serenity seemed to be muttering something about someone always catching her eyes even when he is invisible. The on board ship time was mid-day but the time in Australia was midnight. Time to wake them up but perhaps she should give them a few more minutes sleep after all they were going to be training hard to learn about flying and they had been winning most of the War Games that they had played so far, some even going as far to bring in Marines from each ship and have large scale simulation ship to the ship battles with dog fights included. Elizabeth remembered a particularly amusing moment when the enemy had brought multiple Pelicans into the hanger bay of the Raining Fire, believing their infiltration team had managed to take control of the hanger but instead she had tricked them into thinking that… As the rear hatch of the Pelicans opened and some marines started to file out the hanger doors had been opened and the marines had been sucked out into the vacuum of space, along with the Pelicans and the vehicles in the bay. Their SIs would have been hurting all over.

The ship-to-ship fighting had ended up with the 'Coffin Dropper' having to use escape pods to get out of their exploding ship but even then 632 lead a squadron of Longswords in to pick them off.

All these thoughts had been running through Elizabeth's mind in the space of a few nano-seconds and even though she was running all of the ships systems she still had time to think and dwell on other things. She even thought about tampering with their armour whilst they weren't wearing it, experimenting and studying it to further improve its combat effectiveness. Elizabeth turned her holographic figure to look at the Flight Lieutenant's sleeping figure and recalled her expression when she had returned to the ship with 632 and they seemed to have recovered a bound.

Even though Elizabeth hadn't been the AI when 632 was still a, as the Captain told Elizabeth, 'Green behind the ears Rookie with a happy trigger finger and an IQ level to match' she still read all of the files to do with each and every crew member in the space of a few seconds. She also went through some of the personal files of crew members and 'notes' taken by the previous AI, Aspire. Aspire had been AI on board the Raining Fire for six years and, approaching the end of his life expectancy requested that he be moved off of the ship before signs of rampancy even began to show. Elizabeth had only recently came into being and was chosen to replace him and had come to learn that Aspire didn't wish an ill fate of the personnel of the ship.

Ah, drawing upon a privately catalogued 'file' it detailed the relationship that developed between Garret and Carol… An interesting read. Perhaps she could spare a second to browse perhaps combine that with a few mission reports to see what was going on… Ah may as well.

"Raining Fire to Coffin Dropper, we've arrived and our Helljumpers are in the pods and ready to assist." The voice of Captain Hughes rang out over the coms as he observed a holographic model of a space battle between a covenant cruiser and the 'Coffin Dropper'. The Coffin Dropper was losing.

"This is Coffin Dropper to Raining Fire, we'd appreciate the assistance! Open up on them when you're ready!" A voice replied, mixed with the sound of an explosion.

"Aspire!" Hughes yelled and the holographic figure of a man in dress uniform with his hands folded behind his back sprang up on the arm of his chair.

"Already done Captain, ODSTs are dropping now. I have pre-arranged the system and we will begin to head straight for the area between the Coffin Dropper and the Cruiser to give the Coffin Dropper a chance and we'll take the brunt of the attack." Aspire replied, and 5 small blue objects appeared from the bottom of the holographic figure of the Raining Fire and were heading straight for the Covenant cruiser. "Might I add, Captain, Flight Lieutenant Carol is ready in her Pelican with a squad of Marines to retrieve the Helljumpers when they have planted the charges. Might I recommend that we send them in two minutes?"

"Tell her to be ready in two minutes, because that's when she's leaving."

_In a Drop pod headed towards the Cruiser…_

"WOOOOO HOOOO!" Yelled Garret as his pod plummeted towards the Cruiser, narrowly avoiding some plasma fire coming from a banshee.

"Shut your trap Greeny!" Replied a voice over the coms. Garret grinned wickedly under his helmet before adding.

"Sorry Sarge, but the idea of crashing this pod into some Hinge heads is a really attractive idea!"

"You got to agree with him there, Sarge!" Came the voice of Garret's best friend, Tim. He had been with Tim since basic and had even entered the Helljumpers with him.

"Shut it Greenies! Five seconds 'till impact! Remember, wait until the entire area of impact has de-pressurised before you pop the lid or you'll be thrown out into space."

Garret quietly counted down the seconds, Five…

The feeling of narrowly avoiding plasma fire from that same Banshee rattled his stomach again, whoever that pilot was must be a crap shot.

Four…

When had he last brushed his teeth? The inside of his helmet stank.

Three…

Wasn't Carol going to pick them up? Hopefully he wouldn't get injured or any plasma burns, she'd never forgive him for that. And she'd add to those injuries.

Two…

Garret grinned to himself, seeing Tim's pod still in front of him as they headed towards the Cruiser.

One…

BOOM!

His pod hit the outer hull of the ship and ripped through it, leaving a massive hole and he continued to head through another deck. His pod was already becoming multi coloured with the blood of Covies. His pod finally stopped and the Sarge's words echoed through his mind, _'Wait until the area is depressurised'. _He waited a few seconds, noticing the purple interior around him and the doors shutting to stop further loss of atmosphere on the ship.

"This is Garret, successful drop. Popping the hatch and moving out now."

Garret slammed on the manual release and the lid of his pod went flying off, bouncing off a wall and ricocheting upwards and Garret tentatively pushed himself from his seat, grabbing his shotgun from the weapon rack, and towards a nearby door and held on. Depressurised, more like de everything. The door which he was holding onto opened and there, standing in front of him was a Grunt wearing methane mask and, apparently, no EVA. Needless to say, the deep pressurising and lack of gravitational boots sucked the Grunt past the ODST and into space. Poor sod would be dead soon. Seizing the opportunity, Garret pushed himself through the narrowly closing door and into the corridor beyond. He noticed there was another door in front of him and, as soon as the one behind him closed, the one in front turned a light blue.

"Uh… Open sesame?" He said out loud, to no one in particular. He took a few steps forward and the door opened to reveal an ODST with an SMG pointed at the door, which he lowered and gave Garret a small wave. "Tim?"

"Dave." The ODST replied and he beckoned Garret towards him, turning around. "We need to head to the main structural points and then place the charges, Tim, the Sarge and Liam have already linked up and on the way to their objective. We should double time it."

_On board the Raining Fire…_

"Aspire, give me an update," Hughes said, leaning back in his chair. The Raining Fire was now in position in between the Cruiser and the Coffin Dropper, taking hits from the Cruiser.

"Shields are holding above the safe zone, Weapon batteries are returning fire and have managed to disable two of there batteries. Longswords have engaged a Banshee squadron backed up by Seraphs and are in a dog fight, Coffin Dropper has sent Sabres to assist. Flight Lieutenant Carol is away with her Pelican and two marine squads to provide back up to clear the hanger bay… Hold on. Patching her through."

"Captain?" Came carol's voice from the coms in the Captain's chair, right next to Aspire.

"This is the Captain speaking, how's it going in there Lieutenant?" Hughes replied calmly, glancing up at the ship wide clock.

"The Marines have cleared the hanger bay and gravity is online, we're waiting on the Helljumpers and we'll be outta here. The Marines sustained two injuries and one major injury. He's stable but we need to get out of here sooner rather than later,"

"Understood Lieutenant, wait for the ODSTs and then evac as soon as possible. If I have to call you up again it'll be because our shields have fallen out of my comfort zone and we'll be obliterating that Covie cruiser whether you lot are on board or not, is that understood?"

There was a few moments of silence on the coms, the Lieutenant was probably digesting the information but in reality she was holding her middle finger up the com unit in the Pelican.

"Understood Sir, Carol out."

"Captain, with all due respect, why didn't we use the batteries to deal with the Cruiser instead?" Aspire asked, curiously.

"If we took out the Cruiser with our batteries we'd be spending more Ammunition whilst just holding them off could spend more in the long run, I have faith that the ODSTs will complete their objective and bug out before we reach that stage."

_Back on the Cruiser, Main hanger bay…_

"Covering Fire!"

Plasma fire darted across the hanger bay as one of the doors on the far side opened to reveal three ODSTs backing out of it and firing wildly. "Throwing Frag!" Yelled Tim, priming and then throwing a Frag grenade into the hall. The yells of Grunts and the angered yell of a Hinge head were broken off by the sounds of an explosion and the door slamming shut and turning red. Probably indicating a hull breach.

Carol was standing with the Marines, looking over at the ODSTs counting three… It was a five man squad. Where were the other two? She had heard Tim's voice so Garret had to be with them… Right?

The ODSTs quickly made their way over to the Marines at a light jog, glancing behind them at the Covenant hanger bay. It was close to empty but it still felt UN easy with the corpses of dead Grunts, Jackals and a few Hinge heads. "ODSTs Frank, Tim and Liam reporting in," The lead one said, offering a small salute to the Marines and the Flight lieutenant.

"Where's Garret?" The Flight lieutenant immediately replied, giving little time for the Marine Sergeants to respond. At that moment the sound of a door opening on the other side of the room and gunfire mixed with yelling of multiple languages. Including French. They all sprinted over to the door to find one ODST figure with burn marks all over his armour, revealing bare skin, dragging another who looked even worse carrying a shotgun. His visor has broken revealing his face but they were both still shooting down the corridor.

Before words were exchanged, two of the Marines primed and threw grenades down the corridor with yells of, "EAT THIS!" "TASTE SOME OF THIS HINGE HEADS!"

Carol looked from the two burnt up ODSTs but, before she could speak, Frank spoke.

"Got your charges placed?"

"Yes sir, and thanks for letting us know you care," Garret replied, sounding irritated. Carol stepped forward, grabbing one of Garret's arms and slinging it over her shoulder and hoisting him to his feet. He made no attempt to stop her but kept his shotgun firmly in hand and they all made their way over to the Pelican, climbing on board and Carol dumped Garret in one of the seats closest to the cockpit before heading to the cockpit itself. It was clear. She cared.

But she was pissed off at him.

The rear hatch of the Pelican closed and hardly a second later they flew out of the hanger bay at top speeds as Frank held a detonator in hand and looked behind them at the slowly shrinking Cruiser. He glanced over at Garret's burnt figure before chuckling and throwing him the detonator. "Show 'em what happens when you burn an ODST, Greenhorn,"

Garret nodded to the Sergeant, raising a hand to bang on the door to the cockpit and received a single bang back. He flicked the lid off the detonator, "Hope you guys booked in advance, because Hell is a busy place with us around." He pressed his thumb against the button.

Elizabeth finished reading the file, taking her time to examine the other ones related to the incident. A medical report concerning the injuries sustained and that both ODSTs and the Marines made a full recovery but a few days later Garret was back in the infirmary for a broken rib. He had insisted he had slipped and fell on a bar of soap. It was also noted that Flight Lieutenant Carol had been observed requesting 'special' treatment for an unknown injury or disease. This had been noted a few times before they stopped a few days before Garret volunteered for the Spartan IV program.

Elizabeth observed the report for a few more seconds and, within a few nano-seconds, connected the dots and an amused grin passed over her features. Well, amused grin is an understatement. It was more of a rush she felt for figuring out information that was not directly given. It was like the feeling you receive when you figure out that really difficult question that you have spent ten minutes on but couldn't quite place your finger on the answer.

Elizabeth noted the shipwide time, 00:05pm. Close enough, Elizabeth thought and caused a loud buzzer to erupt in the silence of the room. "Wake up sleeping beauties, it's time for training!"

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! Yet another chapter of Helljumpers is finished and I am quite happy where this is leading. My first reviewer (Awesome guy/gal … Thought it was a guy, correct me if I'm wrong) told me it would be better for some character development before I started flinging new characters into the mix! So I hope this has helped satisfy the thirst for character development and I'll try and refrain from flashbacks! Love you all… Well… Not –all-. With the men it's bro to bro.


	8. Chapter 7: 'The ground will rumble'

Chapter 7 – 'The ground will rumble, there'll be lightning in the sky'

UNSC TRAINING SIMULATION FOR THE PELICAN HEAVY TRANSPORT AND SUPPORT VEHICLE

THE TEACHER OF TODAY'S SIMULATION IS FLIGHT LIEUTENANT CAROL OF THE UNSC RAINING FIRE

STUDENTS ARE THE ODSTS OF THE RAINING FIRE, SQUAD NAME: TBC

"Just ease it on… Don't worry… No… Ladies… NO! That's the acceleration… God help me, NO! That was the button to switch off the engine…"

Carol was in the pilot's seat of a Pelican inside of simulation. The simulation took place in the skies above the Australian outback and the squad was failing miserably at it. The 'ladies' were doing the worst, pressing every wrong button even though their HUDs were telling them which buttons did what. Even with highly advanced suits, Women still were horrible pilots without years of training… Carol sighed, recalling how long it took her to get used to the controls of the Pelican. Not long but it took a lot longer to get used to using them in combat situations and hostile environments. Jacob and Léon were hardly doing much better and their birds were simply spinning all over the place and occasionally crashing into the others. Garret, however, was actually observing his HUD's tips and instructions and listening to Carol's advice and was quickly grasping the controls. He hadn't crashed. Yet.

Whenever the Spartans would crash them they would 'respawn' in a brand new Pelican and Carol was silently thankful that they weren't training in the real world. After a few hours of swearing, crashing and explosions the Spartans were starting to get used to the controls and Carol decided to take it up a notch. "Elizabeth, could you spawn in some Banshees?"

"Affirmative, Banshees spawning… Now."

"Alright ladies… And 632, some Banshees are coming in. Your job is to stay alive." Carol said into the coms, grinning from ear to ear as she heard the familiar sound of Banshees heading towards the Spartans. It was amusing to watch as they all tried to swerve and dodge the Banshees and even when the women resorted back to the 'press every button and pull every lever' tactic they still managed to crash into each other but they didn't respawn like before. Instead they were now stuck in limbo, observing from inside the surviving Spartans helmet cam. The last man standing, to no surprise, was 632. He had three Banshees on his tail and, as expected, he had been hit and was slowly losing altitude. It was quite a sight to see, the amazing 632 was being shot down by a few Banshees but he wasn't done yet.

632 sets the Pelican to fly straight, or straight enough, and 632 exited the cockpit. Now standing in the rear compartment of the Pelican, he slammed his fist on button and the rear hatch slowly opened to reveal the three Banshees behind him. Carol watched as the rear compartment opened and saw 632 standing there was a grenade launcher in hand… He wasn't… Was he?

632 fired one of the grenades out of the rear compartment towards a nearby Banshee, holding down the trigger long enough for it to make contact with the Banshee before releasing the trigger and causing a small EMP explosion. 632 didn't bother to reload and instead threw the grenade launcher to the side and threw himself out of the back compartment, holding a hand out and he caught onto one of the Banshees. He proceeded to rip the hatch off, pulling the Elite with it and fitted himself in and took control. It was very flashy and amusing.

Carol was chuckling in amusement as she watched 632 swerve the Banshee around and took down the remaining Banshee. Either he was showing off or trying to be impressive or just thinking on his feet. Either way, it was impressive. "Elizabeth, end the simulation. I think they've had enough for today." Carol said, chuckling lightly.

TRAINING SIMULATION ENDED

ELASPED TIME – FIVE HOURS, TEN MINUTES AND FOURTEEN SECONDS

"Sarge that was just showing off" Jacob said. They were already on their way back to the Spartan cabin and they were all chatting about the simulation. "I mean you could have just reloaded but no, you had to jump out of the back of the Pelican, hijack a Banshee and take down the other one. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the exercise? We were meant to be learning to fly a Pelican after all,"

"Actually, Jacob, I think you'll find that the Flight Lieutenant specified that the aim of that part of the simulation was to stay alive. I acted within the boundaries which were set," 632 replied, tapping the button in the elevator to take them to the deck with their cabin on and enjoying one of the few times he was not wearing his armour.

"Admittedly, he is correct in saying that I did say that but you were showing off, Garret," Carol said the doors of the elevator swinging open and they all walked out as Carol was grinning at Garret before a voice rang out through the ship.

"Spartan Six-three-two and Flight Lieutenant Carol to the bridge. Repeat, Spartan Six-three-two and Flight Lieutenant Carol to the bridge," The voice was not that of Elizabeth but of a coms officer.

"Right, you lot go on and we'll catch up with you later," Carol told the other Spartans, offering a parting wave before she darted back into the elevator and hit the button to head to one of the upper decks, 632 had hardly managed to squeeze through the closing doors to ensure he wasn't left behind.

The Spartans made their way back to the cabin, Jacob rambling on about the effectiveness of the main cannon of a Scorpion tank when you gave it canister shells. "I'm telling you lot, if you get a chance when you're in one of those big boys use it! Rips through shields like it was a chew toy,"

"Jacob, for the last time we know!" Hayley responded, sounding irritated. The doors to their cabin swung open and Elizabeth's holographic figure blinked into existence before them.

"Spartans, Spartan 632 asked me to inform you that he will not be returning for quite some time and decided to leave his personal files open for you to browse at your leisure or files related to him. He hopes that this'll sate your thirst for knowledge concerning him. I personally recommend watching some of the footage they caught of him," Elizabeth told them, her motherly tone softening their moods and they all strode over to the holo table.

"Are you serious? He's letting us take a look at his personal files?" Charlotte asked, her voice sounded doubtful but she was rubbing her hands together all the same.

"I am very much serious, 632's files and files associated with him are free to browse," Elizabeth replied, sweetly. The holo table flashed into life before them and a 'screen' of information was presented to them with many minimized files. "Should you wish to view one just place your thumb and forefinger in the centre of said icon and expand and when you wish to minimize it place your thumb and forefinger on the outside of said document and close to the centre, enjoy your reading." And with that, Elizabeth's figure disappeared.

_An hour of intensive reading…_

"Ooo… Look what we have here…"

The Spartans looked tiredly at Jacob as he expanded a smaller file which seemed to be labelled as 'Private, do not open on pain of death and court martial for you and the people involved.' The video began to play and the Spartans stared, jaws hitting the floor as it was a video of Garret, still an ODST and still a perfectly normal Human, making love to Carol in the middle of a storage closest. "You've got to be kidding me… Look at that… I never knew the Sarge had so much power…" Hayley said, staring at the video and the squad leaning in every time either of the participants made a particularly loud moan.

Oblivious to anything else, the Spartans did not hear the sound of the cabin doors opening and Garret walked in followed by Carol. They looked over at the Spartans staring at something on the holo table and Garret shrugged before he heard a familiar moan, looking at Carol and all colour seemed to drain from her face. For a second they stared at each other before Carol regained her composure and they heard Léon make a remark.

"Now that's what I call French kissing…"

Carol slowly strode up behind them, peering over their shoulders and coughing loudly. "Oh I remember that, he had great reach but…" She had a devilish grin planted on her face as the Spartans slowly turned to stare at her before they saw 632 and all colour drained from their faces. "… I had flexibility." Carol finished, leaning over the Spartans and taking a hold of the file and threw it in the deletion bin. She was about to turn before she muttered to the Spartans in a voice which sounded like she was highly amused, "Nice to know you find mine and your Sergeant's athletic skills so impressive but that was when he was a Greenie, imagine what he can do now… Oh, and he's probably going to have you all hurting all over by the end of the week and today is Saturday! You poor sods." Carol turned with a wicked grin planted on her face and she strode over to 632 who was still giving his squad the death glare. "Hey Garret, don't these lot need to learn how to evade the missiles from a Vulture?"

"Yes they do… Vulture Missile evading training, first thing." Garret replied, coldly and Carol leaned up and whispered into his ear.

"You know… We did eventually find a spot with no cameras, didn't we?"

"Carol, if you're suggesting we head to the rear compartment of your Pelican again..."

"Well, wouldn't hurt," She replied with the same wicked grin planted on her face. The squad seemed to be frozen in place, scared to move or make a sound. And a small voice echoed through the cabin,

"Don't move, his vision is based on movement," The voice echoed for a few seconds before fading again. Garret couldn't help but grin and let out a soft chuckle before he returned his gaze to them, staring intently for a few more moments before sighing.

"Well, since I had a look at all your files I guess it is fair that you had a look at mine… But next time if you find a video of me please warn me beforehand so I can ask Elizabeth to delete i- WAIT! ELIZABETH. Aspire told me he had deleted that video!"

There was silence until the voice of Aspire crackled into life, "Also, Elizabeth, be sure to remove these files from the system. It won't take long but I'd advise watching a few which will allow you to get a feel of the relationships of the people on the Raining Fire." The voice stopped abruptly before Elizabeth's voice replaced it.

"I only just reached that video, you'd be surprised how many recordings Aspire had of you and Carol and I'm sure there are many more," Elizabeth replied, a mix of seriousness and amusement mixed in her voice.

"Thank you Elizabeth… That'll be all." Garret replied, his cheeks turning a very faint pink. Hardly anyone noticed except Carol, well she had to get used to seeing him in the dark so by this light he was like an open book. But there was something off about him… Maybe he was nervous about the War Games tomorrow? Garret… Nervous? He wasn't a Greenie anymore and the last time she had seen him nervous was in the rear compartment of a crashed Pelican as they waited for a rescue which they didn't think would come. Hope had been the one thing which Carol had nearly lost in the end but Garret always had helped her bounce back with talks of how they must be stopping off at Cairo station for some gas or the slipspace drive must have been faulty. They had always made her laugh or chuckle, even when they were closer to starvation then either would have liked to admit since their MREs were nearly exhausted. Carol watched as Garret strode forward and slapped all of his Spartans around the back of the head before he grinned at them and leant forward to show them the file where he had first dropped in and Carol heard the sounds of recordings from inside his helmet and others.

So another chapter is here and thank you all for your patience. I was recently in London… And well… I don't plan on visiting again anytime soon! I warn you that the next chapter will be more depressing then this one and have a little more *Beats such and such into the ground, slamming his boot onto the Elite's head, its skull making loud cracking noises*. My apologies if everything seems more… 'Negative', you know when you really should have said more than just 'Hello' to someone but you could find no words just because they kind of took the breath from you? Well that kind of happened :P I hope you all enjoy the next chapter and I hope to see you all next time. And remember guys and gals, feet first into hell. Not arms first.


End file.
